Bail Reduced In Rape Of Child

Angry Prosecutors Vow To Fight To Keep Suspect In Jail

May 03, 1994|By Will Hacker. Special to the Tribune.

Angered by a judge's decision to reduce the bond for a suspect in the rape of a 5-year-old Lockport Township girl, Will County prosecutors said Monday they will try to increase the bond for the Naperville man accused of the crime.

Michael J. Fitzgerald, 26, of 1674 Kiowa St., is being held in the Will County Jail on charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Will County Deputy Police Chief Sig Hjemvick said Fitzgerald is suspected of taking the girl from her home Thursday while her parents were out, and then bringing her to a wooded area southeast of Lockport where she was raped.

However, on Saturday morning Circuit Judge William Penn, who acted on his own motion, cut Fitzgerald's bond to $100,000, said Assistant State's Atty. Ray Nash, who heads the Will County state's attorney's criminal division.

"We think the original bond was appropriate for such a serious felony," Nash said angrily. "We don't like to override judges' decisions, but in this case we will ask to have this bond increased."

Nash said that motion probably will be filed in a few days. Fitzgerald is scheduled to appear for a status hearing May 23 to determine whether he will need a public defender. Nash said he hopes to have a grand jury indictment by then.

Hjemvick said Fitzgerald apparently knew the girl's family, but he was unaware of the exact relationship between the Naperville man and the girl's parents, or whether Fitzgerald had ever taken any of the couple's children by himself in the past.

According to Hjemvick, a family member who was home Thursday saw Fitzgerald take the child from the home and probably thought nothing was wrong.

"They must have assumed it was OK for her to go out with a family friend," Hjemvick said. "Unfortunately, that's not always the case."

Hjemvick said after she was attacked, the girl was driven back to the street where she lives and was released a few houses away from her home.

She was treated at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet Thursday night and released.

Hjemvick said that the girl's parents notified police of the attack Thursday night.

Fitzgerald turned himself in to sheriff's police Friday morning after he learned that police were looking for him, Hjemvick said, adding that Fitzgerald's father accompanied him to the Laraway Road police station.